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Contributor
| Just a quick post to establish a baseline on where the coach is now (8-23-2017). For background; I bought this Coach from a gravel lot dealer on 25E (Rutledge Pike) between Jeff City and Morristown TN.
I gave away a bit of my bargaining power when I locked up the brakes on the Tahoe, and drifted sideways onto the lot.
A high top FMC.
Couldn't believe my freakin' eyes.
Turns out it belonged to one of my neighbors a few years back, we aren't well acquainted yet, but I am sure we will become best friends.
The coach has been off the radar since he owned it, and not well maintained, see my following remarks.
The dealer tried hard to convince me it was a 460 Ford motor, I quit debating in less than a minute. I am becoming wiser with age.
His Index of Brilliance is measured in negative numbers.
Remarks:
Brakes - two pumps to get pressure on the shoes. 
Engine - running on 7, I suspect ignition issues.
> There are a set of new Autolite 24's in the storage bay
> I have a set of Accel 8mm resistor wires for Mopar 440,
they seem long enough to route properly, we'll see.
> The valve cover oil fill on the 1-3-5-7 bank had a nasty RTV sealed PVC
breather setup fstened with sheet meatal screws that wouldn't be safe for a port-a-john, much less an
oil seal 3" from a hot exhaust manifold. It's off, and new valve cover coming.
> Engine oil is black, hope it's age and not blowby, it's not low. Renew that before next startup.
> Didn't know about the access port under the master BR cabinetry, thanks for the pictures LCAC - big relief!
> Don't see any aux coolers for engine or trans oil, a necessity from my experience.
Genset - Oil level was at top, and clean.
> There's a new Onan filter rolling around in the Master BR, maybe the gen got more TLC, hope so.
> ran until the gas tank got down to 1/3, guess there's a cutoff for low fuel?
Steering - Wanders quite a bit, there was a drive-by mailbox adjustment on the way home.
> No permanent damage to the box or coach.
> Gotta fix this, steers like a 7 ton lake canoe. 
Mirror - Passenger side mirror is a Camping World replacement, a complete fuster cluck.
> Can't see it from the driver's seat.
> Co-pilot could do her makeup in it, if she wasn't weeping and terrified.
Wiring - Somebody had a Radio Shark credit card
> Lot's of vampire splices, compromising the integrity of the conductors
> When the gen was running, no lights worked; the microwave and fridge lit up
Propane - tank empty, feed to the system is in on position.
> Maybe the fridge pilot ran it dry?
General - Things I don't know yet;
> Was there water in it over the winter? I'll find out when I fill the tank I guess.
> Don't see a poop pyramid under the commode, but it's pretty dark down there.
> Did all systems come with a macerator to reduce the solids?
> The 1.5T roof air blew cool, for a while, as did the dash, neither was adequate |
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Contributor
| General - More things I don't know yet;
> got some good advice here and bought a power bleeder, starting on that now
> jacking this cow up and keeping it there (safely) is a challenge all by itself.
> I've had other Class A's, a National and a Foretravel, but they both had levelling jacks.
> I now own an aluminum 3T floor jack, a 20T steel bottle jack, and an assortment of 6T jackstands
> every support point will have at least 2 jack stands and a jack for backup before work begins.
The Coach has the aluminum wheels, which say "Alcoa".
Alcoa is the next town south on TN 129 (Alcoa Hwy), and the Alcoa Aluminum Plant is in the process of changing its name to "Arconic".
I will not be renaming the wheels, and it remains to be seen what the City of Alcoa will do. But, as we are southerners here, they will likely;
> secede from the Alcoa Union,
> erect a monument of a Confederate General,
> place a historical (hysterical?) marker.
One of the best things about the defiant south, we are never truly defeated.
I suspect I will need that grit often on our FMC Journey.
Edited by Dynaguytn 2017-08-23 8:31 AM
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Elite Veteran
  
Location: Oceanside, CA | I'd prioritize the work on the soft parts (hoses, seals, gaskets) of the fluid systems, get them tight/leak free. Then move to the electrical... All the coach engine bay electrical is pretty awful IMHO, an absolute rat's nest. I'd disconnect the engine harness at the Molex connectors and remove it to clean/repair it. I gutted/rewired my engine bay when I did the swap and I'm convinced that it was one of the best side benefits of the swap..
There's been a couple of coaches that have suffered engine bay fires/total loss in just the past year so these really do have to be "must do's"
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Contributor
| Thanks, very good advice. I am deadly serious about fire hazards, lived on a ship for 4 years and fought two fires.
Never tempt fate! |
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Elite Veteran
Location: Medford, OR | You have a good eye rich. Like Len said, make sure to tidy up the engine compartment, replace ALL rubber fuel lines and water hoses. Inspect the fuel system really good. Clean/degrease the engine really good too. I use a 20 ton bottle jack for lifting #850, I found the best and safest why to raise the rear of the coach was to drive one set of duels up on to my 2x6 ramps, I stacked them 3 high. Then when you jack up the opposite side of the coach, it sets nice and level and you don't have that freaky bottle jack "lean". I also use the factory jack spots on the rear of the frame, never jack it up under the torsion bar. I just throw the jack under the front leaf to raise one wheel at a time. 2 pump brakes means your not far off, hopefully a bleed and an adjustment (5 clicks out), will bring you back to good brakes. BUT you will probably find yourself rebuilding ALL the brake wheel cylinders (Napa #195), and you then can clean and inspect all the wheel bearings too. You are going to want to grease the stub axles too (fun job). You can do the stub axle job with the wheels on the ground, AND be sure to invest/or have a good set of snap ring pliers. I drive mine up on blocks when I need to work on the rear. To check your propane, have them put a small amount in and then you can check for leaks. I have 3/4's of tank right now on 850 with a bad leaky main shut off valve, I haven't dealt with that yet because I obviously need to dump the propane first somewhere. For now I just plug my bbq propane tank in. |
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Expert
Location: Cottage Grove, OR | "I suspect I will need that grit often on our FMC Journey."
That is a true statement but once you have worked your way through many years of neglect and amateur "fixes" you will have a great traveling machine. I second Len's and Dan's suggestions. Remember that if Man can put it together, you can take it apart and fix it!
I passed through your state a year ago in my FMC and look forward to doing so again and expect to see you with a nice traveling machine at that time. To retain your sanity, do as suggested and just focus on one system at a time. You have the manuals on the thumb drive I sent you. They are your friend as the service manual will lead you to a method of approaching each system. Also look through the photo albums on this site as many of them will give you insight to a particular system or problem.
Keep us posted on your progress and use the photo section and the album you have started to document your progress. Use the Caption to explain what we are looking at for each picture. |
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Expert
Location: Cottage Grove, OR | First answer, none of them came with a sewage macerator from the factory. I do know that one or more had them installed by owners. |
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Elite Veteran
Location: Medford, OR | I thought they all came with the "Thermo-san" Stephen? Both of mine had/have it. |
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Expert
Location: Cottage Grove, OR | The Thermo-san is not a macerator. Yes, they all came with the Thermo-san which is a slow pump that pumps liquid out and puts it info the exhaust system for it to be cremated and disposed of but it did not remove solids. A macerator grinds up the solids making a slurry which it then pumps out. I have a portable one and it will empty my black tank in about 3-5 minutes whereas the Thermo-san would take an hour or so to remove the top half of the tank contents. A macerator is basically a small unit like a garbage disposal in a house. it works the same and some cash conscious people have actually made their own out of kitchen units. |
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Elite Veteran
Location: Medford, OR | OHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh. I didn't know that. That explains the small rubber lines going into the Thermo-san then......I wondered how that was supposed to suck up the poopy?? |
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Contributor
| Dan, Stephen, and Len thanks for your guidance and all those pictures, they are worth their weight in gold.
Ran out of daylight with other work today, but I'll back in the coach at dawn. I'll get pictures as I dig into things.
Best -
- Rich |
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FMC #970 baseline status
